6 Common Lies on Resumes
We're not hiring experts, so we're not sure why people would lie on their resumes. When we found out people did, we decided to look into the most common ones. It turns out, most are exaggerations.
1. Inflating numbers. Perhaps a candidate was hired December 2016 and fired January 2018, so they put 2016-2018 to make it sound as though they had worked there for two years instead of barely a year.
2. Salary. Any good company will pay you what you're worth, so there's no need to do this!
3. Job titles. Perhaps they were the only one in their department, so they put their title down as manager of their area.
4. Degrees. Recently, Purdue University purchased the online school Kaplan University. Certain students decided that meant they could put down that their degree came from Purdue.
5. Certifications. Either they don't exist, or they are listed long after they've expired.
6. Criminal records. We understand it can be hard to find a job if you've made mistakes in your past, but a background check will reveal this, so there's no point in trying to hide it.
All of these are found during reference and background checks. Any good recruiting or staffing agency will be thorough. It is best to be up front and honest. Agencies need to be careful and carefully investigate each candidate to ensure there is no trickery on their resume.
